Consumer 3D printer used to create human tissue

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in the US, have adapted a low cost MakerBot 3D printer to print with biological materials. The team hope their work could one day lead to a world in which transplants are no longer necessary to repair damaged organs.

1) The video talks about the team’s ability to print, on a sub-$1000 3D printer “soft materials such as collagens, alginates and fibrins that naturally appear in the body.” What are some of the ethical issues surrounding this ability?

2) The “democratization of technology” has brought us GPS, drones, and many other things once only deployed to the U.S. Military. How is legislation (the writing of laws) keeping up with this process?